I have a  love-hate relationship with TETSUO: THE IRON MAN, the cult film from director Shinya Tsukamoto, which started the Tetsuo series about two decades ago.  I have never seen the sequel which is currently not available on DVD or Blu-ray in North America.  I still want to see TETSUO: BODY HAMMER, but the third film in the series is just a mess with only the end credits music by Nine Inch Nails being the bets thing about the entire film.   TETSUO: THE IRON MAN is a screwed up and messed up film.  TETSUO: THE BULLET MAN gets it wrong in so many places.   The first film worked because it didn't try to explain things too much where the third film explains so much to ruin the mystery of the bizarre metamorphosis.   Then the main bad guy isn't as thrilling as the bad guy in the first film.   THE BULLET MAN tries to humanize the series too much and the themes in several of Shinya Tsukamoto's last films just don't quite mesh with the TETSUO series.   The ending is a disappointment where you expect apocalypse or connection to the other films and making the film seem big only to pull back turns this film into the worst film Shinya Tsukamoto has directed.

FINAL ANALYSIS:  If you are a fan of director Shinya Tsukamoto or TETSUO: IRON MAN, skip this film.  Avoid it.   Go see one of his other films again.   This is a shadow of a cult film that didn't need a second sequel.

this DVD review is (c)6-29-2011 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com

RELATED REVIEWS: